Please continue to ban downed animals from going into the food chain. These

animals are either suffering from illness or injuries and their conditions
warrant them unfit for slaughter.

The agribusiness wants bans lifted or weakened because it cuts into their
profit. They need to assume better medical care for their livestock and
should not be allowed to push sick or injured on to those truck. This is not
an issue of profit and gain. It is an issue of human safety and humane
treatment of animals.

Downed animals at slaughter plants are often beaten, shocked, dragged with
chains, or bulldozed all the way to the killing floor.

Please maintain the ban on downer cows, for the sake of the animals and
public health. And expand this ban to include other species of downed
animals, such as pigs and sheep . They are also at heightened risk of
transmitting disease (e.g., Salmonella and E. coli) to those who eat their
meat, and they suffer just as cows do when they’re
dragged or hauled to
slaughter.

Thank You,

Info:

The USDA ban on 'downed animals' announced late last year is being
threatened by agribusiness lobbyists who are seeking to convince the USDA to
lift or weaken this ban.

The USDA implemented the ban in December 2003, in
response to public concern over the discovery of mad cow disease (a.k.a.
bovine
spongiform encephalopathy or BSE) in the United States. By excluding from
the
human food supply cattle too sick or injured to stand or walk to the
slaughterhouse, the ban effectively ended some of the most egregious
cruelties
suffered by animals raised for food in the U.S.

Now, however, some members
of
the cattle industry think the public's concern over BSE has faded and
they're
pushing the USDA to turn back the clock. If they are successful, downed
cattle
will again be allowed to be used for human food. Downed animals at slaughter
plants are often beaten, shocked, dragged with chains, or bulldozed
all the
way
to the killing floor.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

The USDA is accepting comments from the public on its downed animal ban
until Monday, April 12. Please write to the USDA and urge it to:

(1) Maintain its ban on downer cows, for the sake of the animals and
public health

(2) Expand this ban to include other species of downed animals, such as
pigs and sheep - they are also at heightened risk of transmitting disease
(e.g.,
Salmonella and E. coli) to those who eat their meat, and they suffer just
as
cows do when they're dragged or hauled to slaughter.